LUCKNOW: Members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up to peobe the charges against Swami Chinmayanand on Tuesday searched the hostel room of the law student who has accused the BJP leader of raping and “physically exploiting” her for a year.
The SIT members, accompanied by forensic experts, spent nearly six hours at the hostel room in Shahjahanpur, UP, to collect evidence in connection with her allegations against the former Union minister, college sources said.
The student and her family members accompanied the SIT members during the search, they said.
The team, which reached the hostel around noon, remained there till 5.45 pm, examining the postgraduate student’s belongings. After the search, the room was locked and sealed. The SIT, headed by Inspector General Naveen Arora, was set up by the UP government on a Supreme Court order.
The college principal said though the room in which the student was staying was meant for two people, she lived there alone. Police sources said no rape case was registered till Tuesday evening against Chinmayanand after she lodged a zero FIR in New Delhi.
The woman alleged on Monday that Chinmayanand had raped her, and also “physically exploited” her for one year. She said that the Shahjahanpur police was reluctant to register a rape case against the 72-year-old BJP leader.
With PTI inputs